The present invention relates to a method of disposing of pyrotechnic waste and more particularly to a method for disposing of tracer ammunition.
Most tracer compositions are made from varying percentages of the same basic materials and these are, in order of quantity, strontium nitrate, magnesium, strontium peroxide, polyvinyl chloride, calcium resinate, barium peroxide, oxamide, zinc stearate, polyethylene, strontium oxalate, and lead dioxide. The strontium nitrate and magnesium account for about 60 percent of the total. Present waste treatment methods used for disposing of tracer ammunition involve burning or chemical degradation of the pyrotechnic material and produces air and water pollution.
The method used for disposing of tracer material depends on the stage of the manufacturing process when the material is scrapped. Rejected finished tracer cartridges are burned in metal containers at a burning ground. If a batch of tracer material must be discarded, it is placed in oil and burned. Dry wastes spilled during the assembly process are collected by a vacuum system, under water, and the vacuum collectors are periodically dumped and the contents are treated with caustic, water and steam in a system of sumps. The waste from the sumps are taken by truck to basins on a high hill and the degraded material is leached to the soil. As the methods presently used put degraded pyrotechnic material into the air and water, these methods are ecologically unsounded and no longer desirable.